Tapanui RC 23 December 2018 – R 2 – Chair, Prof G Hall
ID: JCA13283
Code:
Thoroughbred
Meet Title:
Tapanui RC - 23 December 2018
Meet Chair:
GHall
Meet Committee Member 1:
MConway
Race Date:
2018/12/23
Race Number:
R 2
Decision:
As Mr Price admitted the breach, the charge was found proved.
Penalty:
Mr Price is fined the sum of $250.
Facts:
Following the running of race 2 the HARLIWICH CONTRACTING / HERIOT HOTEL HANDICAP an Information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr Davidson, under r 631(2) alleging the Starter, Mr Price, permitted KATANGO (Mr Saejorhor) and FRIAR TUCK (Mr Jogoo) to start from incorrect barriers.
Mr Price signed the Information admitting the breach and at the beginning of the hearing confirmed this was correct and also that he understood the rule under which he was charged.
Rule 631(2) states “Each horse shall, as far as is practicable, be started from the starting stalls corresponding to such stall position determined by NZTR in accordance with r 627".
Mr Davidson used the head-on film of the start to identify the horses concerned. He said KATANGO (Mr Saejorhor) and FRIAR TUCK (Mr Jogoo) had drawn barriers 3 and 5, respectively. He said the film clearly showed the two horses jumping from the incorrect barriers of 5 and 3. He said he had spoken to the jockeys. Mr Jogoo did not notice the he had been loaded in the wrong gate, whilst Mr Saejorhor said he had called out to a Barrier Attendant who either did not hear or took no notice. The incident only came to the Stewards’ attention after the placings had been confirmed. Hence this Committee has not been called upon to make a ruling with respect to the race.
Mr Price stated that he had 24 years’ experience as a Starter, and a further three years, if his time as a Barrier Attendant was included. This error was a first for him and he took full responsibility. However, the Assistant Starter was not experienced. This was only her second meeting in this role, although he confirmed she had had 3 ½ years’ experience in the role of Barrier Attendant. Mr Price said it was his usual practice with a field of 8 horses or less to take charge of loading all of the runners himself. On this occasion, however, he had been warned that the horse in gate 2 might play up. Knowing this runner would require more of his attention, he had tasked the Assistant Starter with responsibility for loading half of the field into the barriers. The Assistant Starter had responsibility for the half in which the two horses in question were drawn. Mr Price had not realised the horses had been loaded incorrectly.
When questioned by the Committee he said he read the numbers out two minutes before the start. This was his usual practice. He had been told there had been a mix up as the colours of the two horses were similar. We asked if he called the numbers again as the horses were being moved with the assistance of the barrier attendants towards the gates for loading. We understand from his reply that this is not his usual practice.
Submissions for Penalty:
Mr Davidson said this was a rare occurrence and submitted that the Stipendiary Stewards believed a fine of between $200 and $300 was an appropriate penalty. He said there was no evidence of detriment to either horse. Neither jockey believed it had had any bearing on the result of the race.
Mr Price had no comments to make other than that he would accept any penalty the Committee imposed. He was clearly aghast at the fact that he had made such a mistake.
Reasons for Penalty:
The head-on film of the start shows that KATANGO (Mr Saejorhor) and FRIAR TUCK (Mr Jogoo), which had drawn barriers 3 and 5, jumped from the incorrect barriers of 5 and 3. Mr Price, who is a very experienced Starter, has quickly and without reservation accepted full responsibility for the error. Mr Davidson has said that he believes that neither horse was disadvantaged because of the incorrect loading, and the jockeys have confirmed this. However, the connections of all horses and those who wager on them expect them be loaded into and jump from their correct barrier positions.
The Committee is aware of only one similar breach of this rule in the last decade. This is Phillips (2014) where the fine was $300. The breach in that case appeared to be due simply to inadvertence by Mr Phillips. We accept that Mr Price’s attention was occupied by a horse that was fractious in an adjoining gate and that the Assistant Starter was inexperienced. Although this latter fact, should have alerted him to the need to take extra care. Mr Price said his fee for the day was $247. Having regard to all the circumstances, especially that we are told no horse was inconvenienced by the error, we impose a fine of $250.
JCA Decision Fields (raw)
Dmitry: This section contains all JCA fields migrated from the raw data.
Data from these fields should be mapped appropriately to display amongst the standard fields above; please make note of any values below that are missing in the above standard fields but should be there.
hearingid: 5cb857c62aa3e18d7fb4ae78faa94f1a
informantnumber: A8645
horsename:
hearing_racingtype:
startdate: no date provided
newcharge: Incorrect loading of horses into the barriers
plea: admitted
penaltyrequired: 1
decisiondate: 27/12/2018
hearing_title: Tapanui RC 23 December 2018 - R 2 - Chair, Prof G Hall
charge:
facts:
Following the running of race 2 the HARLIWICH CONTRACTING / HERIOT HOTEL HANDICAP an Information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr Davidson, under r 631(2) alleging the Starter, Mr Price, permitted KATANGO (Mr Saejorhor) and FRIAR TUCK (Mr Jogoo) to start from incorrect barriers.
Mr Price signed the Information admitting the breach and at the beginning of the hearing confirmed this was correct and also that he understood the rule under which he was charged.
Rule 631(2) states “Each horse shall, as far as is practicable, be started from the starting stalls corresponding to such stall position determined by NZTR in accordance with r 627".
Mr Davidson used the head-on film of the start to identify the horses concerned. He said KATANGO (Mr Saejorhor) and FRIAR TUCK (Mr Jogoo) had drawn barriers 3 and 5, respectively. He said the film clearly showed the two horses jumping from the incorrect barriers of 5 and 3. He said he had spoken to the jockeys. Mr Jogoo did not notice the he had been loaded in the wrong gate, whilst Mr Saejorhor said he had called out to a Barrier Attendant who either did not hear or took no notice. The incident only came to the Stewards’ attention after the placings had been confirmed. Hence this Committee has not been called upon to make a ruling with respect to the race.
Mr Price stated that he had 24 years’ experience as a Starter, and a further three years, if his time as a Barrier Attendant was included. This error was a first for him and he took full responsibility. However, the Assistant Starter was not experienced. This was only her second meeting in this role, although he confirmed she had had 3 ½ years’ experience in the role of Barrier Attendant. Mr Price said it was his usual practice with a field of 8 horses or less to take charge of loading all of the runners himself. On this occasion, however, he had been warned that the horse in gate 2 might play up. Knowing this runner would require more of his attention, he had tasked the Assistant Starter with responsibility for loading half of the field into the barriers. The Assistant Starter had responsibility for the half in which the two horses in question were drawn. Mr Price had not realised the horses had been loaded incorrectly.
When questioned by the Committee he said he read the numbers out two minutes before the start. This was his usual practice. He had been told there had been a mix up as the colours of the two horses were similar. We asked if he called the numbers again as the horses were being moved with the assistance of the barrier attendants towards the gates for loading. We understand from his reply that this is not his usual practice.
appealdecision:
isappeal:
submissionsfordecision:
reasonsfordecision:
Decision:
As Mr Price admitted the breach, the charge was found proved.
sumissionsforpenalty:
Mr Davidson said this was a rare occurrence and submitted that the Stipendiary Stewards believed a fine of between $200 and $300 was an appropriate penalty. He said there was no evidence of detriment to either horse. Neither jockey believed it had had any bearing on the result of the race.
Mr Price had no comments to make other than that he would accept any penalty the Committee imposed. He was clearly aghast at the fact that he had made such a mistake.
reasonsforpenalty:
The head-on film of the start shows that KATANGO (Mr Saejorhor) and FRIAR TUCK (Mr Jogoo), which had drawn barriers 3 and 5, jumped from the incorrect barriers of 5 and 3. Mr Price, who is a very experienced Starter, has quickly and without reservation accepted full responsibility for the error. Mr Davidson has said that he believes that neither horse was disadvantaged because of the incorrect loading, and the jockeys have confirmed this. However, the connections of all horses and those who wager on them expect them be loaded into and jump from their correct barrier positions.
The Committee is aware of only one similar breach of this rule in the last decade. This is Phillips (2014) where the fine was $300. The breach in that case appeared to be due simply to inadvertence by Mr Phillips. We accept that Mr Price’s attention was occupied by a horse that was fractious in an adjoining gate and that the Assistant Starter was inexperienced. Although this latter fact, should have alerted him to the need to take extra care. Mr Price said his fee for the day was $247. Having regard to all the circumstances, especially that we are told no horse was inconvenienced by the error, we impose a fine of $250.
penalty:
Mr Price is fined the sum of $250.
hearing_type: Hearing
Rules: 631(2)
Informant: Mr M Davidson - Stipendiary Steward
JockeysandTrainer: Mr Price - Starter
Otherperson:
PersonPresent:
Respondent:
StipendSteward:
raceid: 7670150890c9f066b1eb8cb30660173e
race_expapproval:
racecancelled: 0
race_noreport: 0
race_emailed1: 0
race_emailed2: 0
race_title: R 2
submittochair:
race_expappcomment:
race_km:
race_otherexp:
race_chair:
race_pm1:
race_pm2:
meetid: 3141789972eb319f9fa12bf45d8db795
meet_expapproval:
meet_noreport: 0
waitingforpublication: 0
meet_emailed1: 0
meet_emailed2: 0
meetdate: 23/12/2018
meet_title: Tapanui RC - 23 December 2018
meet_expappcomment:
meet_km:
meet_otherexp:
tracklocation: tapanui-rc
meet_racingtype: thoroughbred-racing
meet_chair: GHall
meet_pm1: MConway
meet_pm2: none
name: Tapanui RC